Michael Owen believes Man Utd are not too far behind rivals Liverpool

Michael Owen has boldly claimed that Man Utd's squad is not too dissimilar to rivals Liverpool - despite the Red Devils finishing 31 points behind them in the table last season.

The former England striker played for both teams during his career but believes there is little to choose between them.

Owen told ESPN that whilst Liverpool's recent success has pitched them ahead, he feels United are still recovering from the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson .

“A lot of people will obviously say when you have a manager that is there for that long then it’s very difficult for the next manager just to go and pick up the baton and continue it,” Owen said.

Owen feels there is little between United and Liverpool (Newcastle United via Getty Image)

“But I think not many people would have envisaged the extent let’s say of the decline since.

“There’s been some trophies won along the way obviously which has smoothed things over a little bit but in general, when you watch Manchester United now, it is a shadow of the previous teams of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign I guess, and it’s going to take some building.

“I don’t necessarily think the players are all that bad, I think when you look at other teams, look at Liverpool for example, are Manchester United players far inferior to Liverpool’s? I don’t necessarily think so.

Klopp has managed to get the best out of his players (AFP/Getty Images)

“But do Liverpool’s players play with a greater understanding, a great cohesion, a lot of confidence? Then, yes.

“I was talking to John Barnes the other day and he was saying exactly the same thing.

“He doesn’t think there’s anything in the two squads."

Liverpool amassed a whopping 97 points in the Premier League last season to come second, missing out on the title by a point, before sealing Champions League glory in Madrid.

There is pressure on Solskjaer to galvanise the under-performing United squad (PA)

United meanwhile struggled to a sixth-placed finish, and have won just three of their last 17 matches.

But Owen believes the divide is only down to the men in charge.

He added: "When you look at the players, Manchester United have got great players but managers don’t seem to be getting that tune out of them like the Pep Guardiola teams or like the Jurgen Klopp teams at the moment.

“It will be interesting to see if Ole can do that over a period of time.”